Day 1

Don’t worry – I’m not doing these EVERY day. Now that would be exhausting…

As anticipated, I woke up quite early due to jetlag (4:30 AM to be exact). After tossing and turning in bed for another 2 hours, I woke up to the very exciting news that Benedict Cumberbatch is in “advanced talks” to play Hamlet on stage in the autumn of 2014. Giddy with glee (which is silly, cause it is still a rumor right now, albeit one that apparently leans closer to being true than not true), I rolled out of bed and got ready to start my day.

After cramming breakfast into my system – egg, hashbrown, baked beans, cereal, toast, and tea, all of which is covered with my rooming cost – I tried to make my way to Shaftesbury Avenue, aka the West End Theatre District. Doing this strictly from my sense of direction (take that, smartphones!), I ended up meandering a bit ways away from where I needed to go. I ultimately got to the Gielguld Theatre (where Private Lives is playing, featuring the wonderful Anna Chancellor), with 45 minutes to spare before the door opened.

But to my dismay, one person was actually standing in line for himself and his wife, and by the time I got to the front, the day tickets were sold out! Bummer.

Since the showtime got cut out of my proposed schedule, I decided to wander around the city. There weren’t any real destinations mapped out, though my day’s wanderings took me to the National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery, St. James Park, Buckingham Palace, right by the Victoria & Albert Museum (didn’t go in), and the Science Museum (mostly for the Alan Turing exhibit).

Thanet Street – where I live (photographed from the southside – the Centre is a few paces north).

Trafalgar Square

Big Ben playing peek-a-boo

Buckingham Palace view from St. James Park

St. James Park

Enigma decoding reference tube from the Science Museum, as part of the Alan Turing exhibit

… which if you go from Point A (International Lutheran Student Centre) to Point B (The Science Museum), it is about 3.7 miles – direct. I, however, meandered again, this time legitimately getting lost and having to pull out my Mini London A-Z handbook (why so many little streets, London!?). Despite the excessive amount of walking, I got to see lots of pockets of London that I couldn’t recall from former trips (and some exterior London shots featured in Sherlock and sorry for all of these Benedict/Sherlock references that I should really lay off in order to not risk alienating my audience…), so that was nice.

And the weather today – was sunny! No rain! It was gorgeous! Shame I forgot my sunglasses today as I could have really used them…

Tomorrow is another open day full of wonderful possibilities. I’m going to try again for the Private Lives ticket, but the Chimerica production at the Harold Pinter Theatre has gotten some splendid reviews, so I might check it out as well (they also have more day tickets available, so that’s a plus). Part of me also wants to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and run around Hampstead Heath, but we’ll see what happens this weekend. While I know I have the rest of the year to explore, orientation starts on Monday, with classes following the next week. If I really want to dedicate myself to my studies (as I should!), then I’d best get this “exploratory” bug out of my system well before I hit the lecture halls…